This application is related to and claims priority, under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119, from Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 11-16986, filed on Jun. 8, 1999, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk storage case for storing therein a disk-shaped medium, especially, a disk-shaped medium such as a CD (compact disk) not stored in a cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to a conventional disk storage case of this type, as a first example, there is known a disk storage case which is disclosed in JP-A-10-106203. This disk storage case comprises a main body, a cover body, and a tray including a plurality of hold projections which can be engaged with a center hole formed in a disk-shaped medium to thereby be able to hold the disk-shaped medium center hole, while the tray is mounted on the main body.
As a second example, there is known a disk storage case which is disclosed in JP-A-8-207978. This disk storage case comprises a main body and a cover member but does not employ such tray as used in the above-mentioned first example, while a plurality of hold projections engageable with a disk-shaped medium to thereby be able to hold the disk-shaped medium are integrally provided on and projected from the main body. In the second example, when compared with the first example, not only the thickness of the whole of the disk storage case can be reduced by an amount equivalent to the omitted tray, but also the number of parts used to manufacture the disk storage case can be reduced, thereby being able to reduce the cost of the present disk storage case.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional disk storage cases, there are still left the following problems to be solved.
Here, as the disk-shaped medium, there are used not only mediums such as a CD and a CD-ROM in which some kinds of data are previously recorded, but also mediums such as recordable CDs (CD-R and CD-RW). In the latter type, the contents recorded in the disk-shaped medium are entered in an index card, the index card is stored into a disk storage case, and the disk storage case is kept with the disk-shaped medium entered therein. In the keeping, the disk storage case is generally set on end; therefore, it is necessary that the portion of the disk storage case in which the title of the index card is to be written or entered is positioned on the side surface of the disk storage case.
Now, in the first example of the above-mentioned conventional disk storage cases, the tray must be removed when the index card is stored into and taken out from the disk storage case; that is, each time when the contents entered in the index card are changed, the tray must be removed, which is troublesome and inconvenient.
Also, in the second conventional example, it can be expected that the index card can be stored in the portion of the cover body having a U-shaped section. However, since the portion having a U-shaped section is short in the internal width thereof, it is not possible to secure a sufficient size for the title portion of the index card that enters the portion having a U-shaped section; and, even when the title can be entered there, the entered contents are difficult to read. Here, in case where the internal width of the portion having a U-shaped section is increased, the width of the title portion of the index card can be increased, but this raises another problem that the above-mentioned reduction in the thickness of the whole disk storage case cannot be achieved.
In view of the above, the present invention aims at eliminating the drawbacks found in the above-mentioned conventional disk storage cases. Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a disk storage case which can be reduced in thickness over the whole case and also is able to secure, on the side surface thereof, a sufficient width for an index card.
In attaining the above object, according to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a disk storage case, comprising: a main body for storing a disk-shaped medium therein; and, a cover body, wherein the main body includes not only a bottom wall having a plurality of hold projections respectively formed in the center portion thereof integrally therewith so as to be engageable with a center hole formed in the disk-shaped medium for holding the disk-shaped medium center hole, a pair of mutually opposing side walls, a front surface wall, and a back surface wall respectively disposed on the outer edges of the bottom wall, but also extension portions respectively formed on the respective one-end sides of the pair of side walls formed in such a manner that they are extended from and along the side walls; the cover body includes a top wall, a pair of mutually opposing side walls and a back surface wall respectively disposed on the outer edges of the top wall, and the cover body is also structured such that the end portions of the pair of side walls on the back surface wall side thereof can be pivotally mounted on the extension portions to thereby be able to mount the cover body on the main body in such a manner that the cover body can be opened and closed; and, the height of the back surface wall of the cover body is set substantially equal to the thickness of the disk storage case when the cover body is closed.
According to a second aspect of the invention, in a disk storage case according to the first aspect of the invention, there is further included an L-shaped index card having a main surface portion and a back surface portion, wherein, on the pair of side walls of the cover body, there are disposed hold pieces with a given clearance between the top wall and themselves, the main surface portion of the index card is disposed so as to extend along the inner surface side of the top wall and is held by the hold pieces, and the back surface portion of the index card is disposed so as to extend along the inner surface side of the back surface wall of the cover body.
According to a third aspect of the invention, in a disk storage case according to the second aspect of the invention, when the cover body is closed, the upper end face of the back surface wall of the main body is allowed to support the index card.
Further, according to a fourth aspect of the invention, in a disk storage case according to any one of the first to third aspects of the invention, along the bottom wall of the main body, there is disposed an auxiliary wall extending from the back surface wall of the main body to the extension portions side thereof.
In a disk storage case according to the first aspect of the invention, the cover body can be mounted on the extension portions of the main body in such a manner that it can be opened and closed. In addition, when the cover body is closed, the back surface wall of the cover body forms the side surface of the disk storage case. Therefore, the width of the back surface wall of the cover can be lengthened up to the maximum, which makes it possible to increase the size of the title of the index card to be mounted on the present back surface wall, so that the index card title can be made easy to see.
In a disk storage case according to the second aspect of the invention, the index card is mounted in such a manner that the main surface portion thereof extends along the top wall of the cover body and the back surface portion thereof extends along the back surface wall of the cover body. Also, the index card is held by the hold pieces respectively provided on the side walls of the cover body. Owing to this, the back surface portion of the index card can be set equal in size to the back surface wall of the cover body. Also, mounting and removal of the index card can be facilitated.
In a disk storage case according to the third aspect of the invention, when the cover body is closed, the index card is supported by the upper end face of the back surface wall of the main body. Therefore, the index card after it is mounted can be stabilized further.
Further, in a disk storage case according to the fourth aspect of the invention, when the cover body is closed, a clearance between the back surface wall of the main body and the back surface wall of the cover body is narrowed due to the auxiliary wall. This makes it possible to improve the appearance of the disk storage case.